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September 10, 2013

FSI Unveils New Social Network

At first Advisor Summit, institute also shows off new website and gives a sneak peek at its coming app

FSI CEO Dale Brown speaking at the FSI conference earlier this year.

The Financial Services Institute unveiled Tuesday at its first Advisor Summit a revamped website and a social network called FSI Social to help increase its online advocacy and help independent advisor members grow their businesses.

FSI Social provides a secure virtual environment for both FSI member firm executives and financial advisor members so that they can collaborate and share best practices. FSI members “don’t feel LinkedIn is enough,” Chris Paulitz, FSI’s senior vice president of membership and marketing, told reporters during a morning briefing. However, he said FSI Social allows advisors to import their LinkedIn profiles.

While FSI’s membership has experienced rapid growth, FSI’s website “has not kept pace with the success of FSI,” Paulitz said. “We nuked our website and built a new one.”

FSI President and CEO Dale Brown added that FSI’s new website will help advisors “stay better informed and be more effective citizen advocates.”

Via the site, advisors can learn about such issues as the 70 social media bills that are wending their way through state legislatures, Paulitz said. The state social media bills, which cover compliance with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, “are almost always in conflict with FINRA rules,” he said.

FSI also unveiled two new resources to help its advisor members retain their current clients and attract new ones.

A one-minute video and a corresponding one-page infographic are now available for FSI members to download for free. These tools help advisors explain the value of independence to clients and prospective clients, FSI says, and are client ready, having been reviewed by FINRA.

Says FSI: The video can be embedded on a website or emailed to clients or prospective clients. The infographic can also be posted on the website or emailed, or printed and placed on a lobby coffee table to act as a conversation starter.

FSI also gave a sneak peak at its new all-in-one member mobile app that will allow members to advocate on the go, get industry news and use as an on-site conference app. FSI will be releasing the new app for download in about a month.